Caprice Corlew
Caprice Corlew is a healthcare professional with a proven record of leading operational and clinical initiatives to improve patient outcomes. She currently serves as the Sepsis Program Manager at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, where she drives hospital-wide sepsis performance initiatives, ensuring alignment with CMS SEP-1 requirements and providing frontline caregivers with tools, education, and real-time guidance. Caprice’s work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, sustainable process improvement, and measurable patient outcomes, supporting broader quality priorities such as accreditation readiness and Joint Commission standards.
Caprice’s healthcare journey began in retail pharmacy at CVS Health, where she learned that education alone is not enough—people skills are critical. Working with diverse patients taught her the value of empathy and genuine care, shaping her career path. She transitioned into hospital inpatient pharmacy to gain broader clinical experience, initially considering pharmacy school before pivoting to a Master’s in Strategic Leadership from University of Charleston. While working as a pharmacy technician, she expanded into analyst-based responsibilities, leading complex projects such as hospital-wide medication device swapouts and specialized work in oncology and compounding. A key career milestone was successfully managing a device replacement project for automated medication systems six months into its implementation despite limited prior experience, coordinating multiple vendors and teams to deliver results—a defining moment that solidified her path in healthcare operations.
Most recently, Caprice led the hospital-wide sepsis program, focusing on rapid interventions to reduce mortality and ensure patients could safely return home. She chose to step away from this role to prioritize her well-being and is now actively seeking her next opportunity while pursuing a Yellow Belt Six Sigma certification to further enhance her process improvement expertise. With a Bachelor of Science in Health Services from Cleveland State University and a Master of Science in Strategic Leadership from University of Charleston, Caprice combines clinical knowledge, operational leadership, and strategic insight to drive meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery.
• Cleveland State University - BS, Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General
• University of Charleston - MS, Strategic Leadership; Strategy as a Practice
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the fact that I do love people. I want to be around people, I want to work with people, and work in industries that are helping people. That always trumps the obstacles that I go through. So even if I'm going through something, what's more important to me is knowing that I have a vision where I get to be somewhere being impactful. I also have strong beliefs that everything happens for a reason. So if I'm no longer there, if it's time to leave this place, if it's not working and everything seems like it's going wrong, maybe that's for a reason and it's time for me to move on because there's more I can do in my journey.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best piece of advice I ever received was from a pharmacist, a fantastic lady, and she told me to keep being myself. Because sometimes my stuff is a lot, and she knows that actually. She knows me transparently, we talk about everything, and it's fantastic. But she's like, your space is bright when you're yourself. You do your best work when you are yourself, and you get to be happy when you're yourself. I think that is so important, just keep being yourself.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say keep going forward. Just keep moving forward and learn everything that you can. Learning is our greatest tool. I've gone through completely different industries, and when I finally moved forward, it's because I took my time and I learned new skills. I learned new skills that I felt were aligned with me and where I wanted to go. You have to test the waters, be open to trying new things. Maybe you're in a career that's not for you. Be open to finding what fits you, because you have to prioritize yourself and your journey, and you can absolutely make it wherever you want to go.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In my opinion, I think one of the biggest challenges that we are facing in my field being within hospitals is that hospitals are a business, but they also serve the people. One challenge that I faced in my sepsis role was that we want results based on data, but gathering data can't be more important than treating patients. I had a conversation with the Enterprise Sepsis Lead where I said I would rather go to the floors and talk to nurses about what they might be missing in real time than let it come back as data as something that was missed. The Enterprise view is if we interfere, we don't collect data of what they're missing. Well, if we interfered, we're enhancing patient outcomes. So being able to decipher the difference between patient care and being a business is a challenge, because the perspective may not always be aligned. But being someone who is hospital and patient-facing, the patient always comes first.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
For home life, it's my family. People come first. I'm extremely people-centered. Though I am slightly selfish because I love me time and self-care, people are the most important things in our life, in my opinion. So just embracing your family, embracing the people around you and your loved ones, and trusting in your support system. And I would say the same with work. It's not family, but it's a support system. Building up a support system that you communicate with, that you're transparent with, and making sure that you check in, listen, and understand. It produces the best results.